Democrats warn of dwindling US arsenal due to war with Iran

Uncertainty over the arms reserves has increased among Democrats, as the war between the United States and Iran intensifies. The president Donald Trump shared on his networks that several contractors had agreed to quadruple arms production, but did not specify which ones. According to experts, the defense systems that counter missiles are the ones under pressure, with Patriot interceptors and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, as these are in high demand in Ukraine and Israel. The United States shoots down missiles with these systems, but has had problems stopping the thousands of attacks that Iran has been sending. This system has worked with Russian drones in Ukraine and is cheaper than firing a missile that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars against an Israeli drone whose cost is less than 50 thousand dollars.

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The army has everything it needs

The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, mentioned that the US military has everything to execute any mission anywhere and on the schedule it decides. Also, defense contractor Lockheed Martin said last Friday that it had agreed to quadruple ammunition production. However, a schedule stating when the increases will occur has not been given. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, reported that supplies decreased after the Houthi rebels were fought in Yemen and the latest war conflicts of the government in office. “Our ammunition is low. That is public knowledge,” Warner stated. The system called THAAD is used to shoot down medium-range ballistic missiles, and the Patriot system is used to shoot down short-range ballistic missiles and manned aircraft. “These already had a very high demand and we had not acquired enough before the conflict,” he explained. “And now we have probably used, between the two, probably several hundred more.” According to the deputy director, the United States government refused to provide details of them and the exact number of THAAD and Patriot systems is totally classified.